These are Sheffield's nightmare traffic hotspots - and this is what we should do to fix them
These are just the worst in my personal opinion and should make those in power hang their heads in shame
Us Sheffielders spend a lot of our lives sat in traffic and it drives us crazy.
I've had my say on why the city should be better at planning roadworks so they don't all come at once and, other than emergency situations, cause utterly unnecessary gridlock.
Today is slightly different. Yes, it is a moan but it is about specific sites that Sheffield could have control of and should do better.
I'm not talking about the many areas where the sheer volume of traffic makes us all grind to a halt. Rather these are road problems that either could be solved by a bit of clever thinking or dangerous hotspots created by stupidity.
These are just the worst in my personal opinion and should make those in power hang their heads in shame. Do let me know the traffic hotspots that drive you around the bend because it doesn't have to be that way.
Traffic hotspot #1
At one of the most difficult times in their lives, Sheffielders have extra stress heaped on them. This city, despite its awesome medical teams, has done nothing over decades to stop making poorly people even more poorly.
I hope you have never had the need to access Weston Park Hospital but, if you have, you will know straightaway what I am talking about.
In recent months, I have regularly driven two close friends to that most wonderful of hospitals to have either daily radiotherapy or chemotherapy every few weeks.
These are people who are too poorly to be expected to use public transport. No matter at what stage, if you have cancer I am sure we can all agree that you at least deserve a lift to your treatment.
Without fail, patients travelling to Weston Park have to allow extra time - sometimes as much as an hour - because the car park is too small and the queue to get in can take ages.
Putting aside the health of those who wait in that most poisonous snake of traffic, it is dangerous. Those stationary cars create a hazard as they curl around the corner and completely blocks vehicles heading to Broomhill.
It isn't easy to spot if you are behind a line of traffic waiting to access the cancer hospital, just a normal queue in an area where roads are always busy or who knows what. You can't see far enough to know!
How is that safe? How is that supporting patients whose life is already imploding?
I know land is at a premium around there. Do I need to point out that the university which gains so much from this city has very recently developed an enormous plot over the road and a vital opportunity was thrown away? I know this isn't the council's direct responsibility, that the university doesn't need to care and that the NHS, perhaps, has more important things to worry about. But it is also something that the city could and should come together to solve.
Just a little bit of teamwork, some clever thinking and genuine compassion would be transformational for those who most need us to care.
If we aren't bothered about hazardous traffic, Sheffielders with cancer, their stress levels and whether they get their treatment on time, what does matter to those in power?
Traffic hotspot #2
My mum used to tell me off for using my sat nav all the time. I put it on when I am travelling the well worn roads between her house and mine, even though I could walk it with my eyes shut.
I do it because it warns me where the traffic is heavy. Often there is no avoiding it and I sit wishing my friendly dashboard robot could suggest a clever alternative.
I have now learned that it is also great at highlighting just how poorly planned road changes can be in this city.
A new Lidl recently opened in Handsworth. Not necessarily a bad thing although I have to say there are supermarkets less than five minutes away in all directions and very few independents which have survived the onslaught.
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But back to my main gripe, a set of traffic lights has been added to Retford Road to control the flow of cars.
What it has actually done is create huge delays every morning for anybody with the misfortune to be heading towards town.
A couple of weeks ago the rush hour queue stretched back all the way to Rotherham.
Excuse the jest but traffic lights that create a jam of more than a mile, which did not previously exist, are not performing their job correctly.
I have wondered, usually while sat staring at the immobile cars in front, if I'm bring harsh and the priority hasn't been wrongly allocated away from the main flow of traffic.
But I have never seem more than a couple of cars waiting in the other direction and often none.
That's where we return to the sat nav. The other day it advised me that I could cut five minutes from my journey by coming off the main road, following a ratrun around the back and returning to the main road via - you guessed it - the same set of traffic lights from the Lidl approach.
I could laugh at how crazily this new addition to our road network has been implemented. I should cry at the dangerous lengths we are driven too because of failures to consult, listen and check before and after changes.
Traffic hotspot #3
There is nothing us Brits love more when the sun comes out than heading into the garden with our secateurs.
Before we turn red from the UV, there is another shade of scarlet which hits our cheeks when we realise the state our floral borders have descended to during the colder months.
So we prune, we dig, we weed and we create huge amounts of waste.
Add to that recipe all those people who adore nothing more than some serious DIY and we have all the ingredients for a dangerous road disaster.
You've guessed it. I am talking about Blackstock Road and that corner from hell.
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I made the rookie error of trying to pass that way on the first truly sunny weekend of the year.
What an unmitigated disaster. We hit (fortunately not literally) the queue so far away from the tip entrance that it took me a few minutes to figure out that it wasn't gridlock caused by a horror accident.
No, it was the regular stationary trail of cars completely stopping anyone wanting to merely go down the hill and continue on their journey.
You simply cannot see around the corner to know if you can overtake safely. It isn't clear who is waiting to dump rubbish and who is just stuck so could pull out at at moment.
Woe betide anyone who actually wants to join the queue but has approached from the direction of Newfield Green. They usually end up doing an unexpected turn, adding to the chaos.
My heart also goes out to those who waste huge amounts of time trapped in an overheated car because the infrastructure isn't fit for purpose when demand rises.
We have seen token gestures at peak times to control the traffic but the truth is failure to solve this farce leads to both dangerous roads and flytipping. People trying to do the right thing, or merely pass, deserve better.
Traffic hotspot #4
Would you think I have gone completely mad if I blame Donald Trump for an increasing danger in Sheffield?
I feel like much of what has gone wrong internationally recently can be laid at the door of POTUS. That is definitely true of one particularly disastrous situation, so bad it impacts on Sheffield's key route Parkway.
The queue to enter the Costco car park was so long at the weekend that it stretched back to the roundabout and far down the slip road.
I was merely trying to enter the roundabout and head towards the M1. What a foolish route. I couldn't quite see if the stationary cars reached as far as Parkway but they were certainly close.
I understand that Yorkshire folk love a bargain and the price of fuel is exorbitant but this is dangerous.
It is regularly bad but I've never seen any action to control traffic around what may be the cheapest petrol in the city.
I get it, it's a private store without public accountability. The popularity of supersized American portions might not have been predictable when it opened years ago.
But the crisis is now and action is needed to keep our roads safe.
A second entrance? A safer approach? Surely it isn't beyond the intelligence of our city to see that this situation gets worse year on year and fuel is not going to suddenly drastically drop.
I won't dally on the £1 sale of Sheffield Airport which one stood nearby. And please don't mention DSA or Peel! I won't dedicate column inches to the lack of foresight and brave planning which we seem to pay the price for all too quickly here.
I merely highlight four examples that could be solved or could continue to be ignored until something snaps tragically.
Which traffic nightmare keeps you awake? Let me know what I've missed. Email me [email protected], call 07803 506435 or write to Nancy Fielder, The Star, Cubo, 38 Carver Street, Sheffield, S1 4FS with your suggestions and frustrations.